NFL Summary: Houston power past Ravens

The Houston Texans have taken control of the NFL's American Football Conference after a convincing 43-13 victory over the Baltimore Ravens last night.

The Texans (6-1) triumphed in the battle of the AFC's top two teams, bouncing back from their first loss of the season against the Packers last week.

The New England Patriots (4-3) took sole control of the AFC East after a 29-26 overtime win over divisional rivals, the New York Jets.

New England were 23-13 ahead after the third quarter but found themselves needing a Stephen Gostkowski field goal from 43 yards to take the game into overtime.

Eli Manning and Victor Cruz combined on a 77-yard touchdown to give the New York Giants a thrilling 27-23 win over the Washington Redskins.

The victory improved the Giants record to 5-2 and tightened their hold on first place in the NFC East.

In Florida, the New Orleans Saints won an exciting shootout in Tampa Bay 35-28.

There was no shortage of offensive entertainment as Drew Brees threw for 377 yards and four touchdowns and Josh Freeman put up 420 yards and three touchdown passes.

All four of Brees's touchdowns and 313 yards of his passing came in the first half while Jonathan Vilma, who is appealing a one-year ban for his alleged role in the Bounty affair, made his season debut.

After making a 4-0 start to the season, the Arizona Cardinals have now lost their last three games, the latest setback a 21-14 loss to the much-improved the Minnesota Vikings (5-2).

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson opened the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown run and put up 153 yards on the ground but the game turned decisively for Minnesota when Harrison Smith brilliantly returned an interception for a 31-yard score in the third quarter.

After a slow start to the season, the Green Bay Packers are now 4-3 and Aaron Rodgers is once again proving to be a game-winning quarterback, throwing for 342 yards and three touchdowns in St Louis.

Randall Cobb collected two of Rodger's touchdown passes while Jordy Nelson scored one and put up 122 yards receiving as Green Bay put the game well beyond the Rams.

The Dallas Cowboys (3-3) won 19-14 at the Carolina Panthers (1-5), thanks to two fourth quarter field goals from Dan Bailey, although the highlight was a superbly weighted 16-yard pass from Tony Room to Miles Austin in the third quarter.

Matt Hasselbeck fired a 15-yard touchdown strike to Nate Washington with 63 seconds to play, lifting the Tennessee Titans to a wild 35-34 comeback win over the Buffalo Bills.

Running backs Chris Johnson and Jamie Harper both rushed for a pair of scores as the surging Titans recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season to jump back into the playoff chase in the AFC South with a record of 3-4.

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